New administrators take over at convalescent center

Walter Reed Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center, Gloucester, has a new administrative team. Administrator Joseph S. Law and assistant administrator Nikki Clements are shown outside the facility. Photo by Bill Nachman

A new administrator and new assistant administrator began working recently at Walter Reed Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center in Gloucester.

Joseph S. Law replaced Erik Buckley as administrator in mid-September. Buckley is now administrator for another convalescent facility in Newport News owned by Virginia Health Services, which also owns Walter Reed.

The new assistant administrator here is Nikki Clements, who worked as Law’s assistant for six years at a Newport News convalescent facility.

They head a staff of 260 employees who support residents of the 181-bed facility, located on Meredith Drive north of Gloucester Court House.

The center includes 23 beds in a Memory Care secured unit, Law said, 63 beds for rehabilitation patients, and the remainder for longer-term convalescent patients. Often rehab patients are aged 50 and up, Law said, while most convalescent patients are age 70 and up.

Law has worked for Virginia Health Services since 1999, most recently as administrator at James River Convalescent Center in Newport News. Previously, he was administrator at York Convalescent Center near Yorktown and served as assistant administrator at Walter Reed when he first began working for VHS.

Originally from upstate New York, he earned a bachelor’s degree in health care administration at Ithaca College. He resides in Newport News.